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TEMPLE OF THE DAY

Shravanabelgola

Three Antique Jain
Idols Unearthed in Ahemadabad

Ahmedabad: A common construction site in
Shantinagar society in Usmanpura drew many
curious visitors morning with the sudden
appearance of three eight-feet-tall Jain idols.
Religious heads and residents from nearby
thronged the site to perform poojas and later
chalked out a plan to install them in a
community hall nearby. Around 10.30 a JCB
machine operator,while excavating the place,felt
a huge stone underneath. On digging, head of a
Jain deities idol emerged. The labourers dug out
the land further and brought out the idol
carefully. The residents of adjoining
apartments, who saw the idol, rushed to the site
and started digging the place nearby and found
two more idols.

Jain priests Harihant Sagarji and Muni Padmajit
Sagarji who were present at the spot claimed
that the idols may be four hundred years old and
its makers had hidden the statues during an
attack by the Mughal army. The priests also
claimed that the idols were made by artisans
from Khambat and were being transported into the
city. However, the state archeology department
had a completely different version to tell.
Scientists claimed that the three idols were
incomplete and looked similar. The chisel work
suggested that it could not be more than 100
years old. Idols of this size were normally
constructed near a temple site. The idols seem
incomplete as the artisans have not carved the
vehicles of the tirthankars and specific signs
on the idols body that can help devotees
identify the revered gods. The artisans may have
left the idols for some reason which is not
known yet, says director of state archeology
department Y S Rawat. The idols were found
disfigured. They share striking similarity to
Khambati style. This style of idol is present at
a Jain temple at Shambhavnath Ni Khadki in
Zaveri Bazaar. While one of the murti is of Lord
Adheswar, the other two are yet to be
identified. The idols are 88 inches tall, 67
inches broad and 29 inches thick. Ketan Shah of
Shantinagar Shwetambar Murtipujak Jain Sangh
said: After getting permission from ASI, we will
put these idols for darshan. So far,10,000
people, including monks, have visited the site
where the idols are kept. But Muni Padmajit
claimed, Similar Jain idols are present in
Sambhav Nath ni Khadki in Zaveriwad area in the
walled city which are smaller in size compared
to the ones found at this site. We believe that
the idols were being brought for a new Jain
temple and that they were hidden fearing
attacks. Virendra Shah who owned a bungalow at
the site for many years had sold the property to
Anil Patel, a builder ,for a residential
apartment scheme at the site. It was during the
digging to lay the foundation at the site that
the idols were revealed. The foundation of the
bungalow was just one metre deep, while the
idols were found four metres deep. There was no
way that Shah could have known about the
presence of the idols, said a resident.